With a hard-fought victory against Columbia the day before, the women took the field the next day to face Vassar, who came back to Grauert looking to avenge their loss from two weeks ago at Rugby Fest.
Fairfield started off strong, playing with organization and focus, but an unlucky turnover resulted in handing Vassar the ball and Vassar began their tried-and-true rucking swarm attack, and Fairfield gave up too many meters with late and high tackles, allowing Vassar to storm up the field to take the first try at 6 minutes in. Adjusting took a bit too long, as we continued to turn over the ball as Vassar beat us to the breakdown. Playing mostly defense, Vassar was able to strike again 10 minutes later to take a 0-14 lead. Fairfield buckled down after a Vassar penalty gave us possession, and the team reapplied their patience in their 1-3-3-1 formation, to continue to recycle the ball and with some penalties against Vassar, Ashley O'Connor '25 punched her way in for a try to get Fairfield on the board at the 24 minute mark.
Unfortunately, the ref was very stringent with the breakdown and ruck entry, and both teams suffered from too many yellow cards (3 for Fairfield, 4 for Vassar). We were penalized an excessive amount due to our inability to roll away, along with an inability to stay on our feet and diving in to try to counter Vassar. Playing with 13 on the field, Fairfield continued to fight, but Vassar was able to push another try in to get ahead to 5-21 at the end of the half.
Ultimately, the tax on playing two physical games was too great, as tackles got higher and reactions off the ball were delayed. However, a tremendous effort by this team to stay in the game and to contest Vassar and keep the score close all the way up to the end. Within the last 10 minutes, we continued to pressure Vassar and pushed our way up the field with an onslaught of forward recycling, to push a try in to score once more, with Veronica McAdams '25 diving in to touch the ball down, bring us to 10-28 at the end of the match.
Kudos go to the first-year and sophomore reserves in this game (Alyssa Bruno '25, Kayla Fox '25, Julia Demetropoulos '25, Simona Gheorghe '25, Michelle Marino '25, Sam Diiorio '25, Ava Heil '26, Kate Robertson '26) for denying Vassar their typical run-up of the score - the reserves displayed a level of energy and cohesive play that demonstrated our depth and our future. We have come a very long way since last fall, and it shows. We are putting this loss behind us only taking the learnings into the CRAA D2 championships, hosted again by Fairfield University. Many thanks to all the alumni, parents and friends that have made the journey with us to get us to next weekend!
Match Reports submitted by Jane Kim – Women's Rugby Head Coach
